Civil society march in Copenhagen. Credit: Claudia Ciobanu/IPS

By Raúl Pierri and Daniela Estrada

COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva)  COP15 proved to be a “spectacular failure even according to its own terms,” but civil society had “some successes,” such as the inclusion of certain issues on the climate agenda, and making the voice of the South heard loud and clear.

That was how activists assessed their efforts at COP15 as the climate change talks came to an agonising end Saturday in Copenhagen. Continue Reading

Climate activists arrested by the Danish police. Credit: Claudia Ciobanu/TerraViva

By Stephen Leahy

COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) There is no Copenhagen climate treaty. History was not made here and no deal was sealed.

After two years of intense negotiations by 194 countries, what is abundantly clear is the enormous divide between the rich and poor countries. Poor countries want deep cuts in emissions by the industrialised world, and the latter continue to resist significant cuts and legally binding targets. Continue Reading

"It will take lot of us – probably in the streets" to make politicians face the truth, says climate scientist James Hansen. Credit: TerraViva/Stephen Leahy

No Real Deal, and No Exit

Analysis by Stephen Leahy

COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) The roof of our house is on fire but our leaders, our economic system and we ourselves are ignoring the alarms and continuing to add more fuel. There are no exit doors in our house; there is nowhere else to go.

Dangerous climate change is already here.

The two-week climate summit in Copenhagen came to an end with disappointing results and details that are still vague. Continue Reading

Civil society's message to the leaders meeting in Copenhagen. Credit:Ana Libisch/IPS

COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) Heads of state and government are working fervently to complete an agreement in Copenhagen, but texts coming out of their midst so far lack details on emissions cuts and long-term funding.

Negotiations – resumed after U.S. President Barack Obama’s speech failed to deliver any tangible targets – are likely to continue into tomorrow. Continue Reading

Members of Friends of the Earth not allowed into the Bella Center. Nasseem Ackbarally/IPS

By Claudia Ciobanu* COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) World leaders speaking in Copenhagen on Friday, the last day of negotiations for a deal on climate change, retreated into their national positions.

US President Barack Obama and his peers could not have been further from the call to “cooperate internationally to ensure respect for human rights everywhere in the world” contained in the People’s Declaration issued by NGOs working at the KlimaForum09 alternative summit. Continue Reading

Copenhagen demonstrators and police. Credit: Claudia Ciobanu/IPS

By Mantoe Phakathi*

COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) – “It’s clear now – we’re not getting a binding deal at the end of tomorrow,” said the president of Friends of the Earth-United States, Erich Pica.

Industrialised nations are burying their heads in the sand and poor countries seem set to be forced to continue bearing the burden of global warming. The demonstrations, flyers, news media and all kinds of pressure to get the Western countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and compensate poor countries with financial resources and technology seem to have fallen on deaf ears. Continue Reading

Adriana Marquisio and Maude Barlow at the Klimaforum09. Credit:Stephen Leahy/IPS

Stephen Leahy* – Tierramérica

COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) Similar market-based solutions will be used to “solve” the growing water crisis, warned experts at the Klimaforum09, a parallel meeting a few kilometres away from the official COP15 talks. Continue Reading

Kumi Naidoo. Credit: Claudia Ciobanu/IPS

Claudia Ciobanu interviews Kumi Naidoo, head of Greenpeace International

COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) “Climate change is an opportunity to deal with all the issues of equity and justice that we have been struggling for all along,” said Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director of Greenpeace International in an interview with IPS on Thursday in Copenhagen.

“And perhaps this is why there is such resistance from rich countries: they know that if they do the right thing in Copenhagen, they have to begin to share economic power and to have a more equitable trading system because all of those things have to follow, otherwise you cannot deal with climate change.” Continue Reading

People's assembly. Credit: TerraViva/IPS

By Rajiv Fernando*

COPENHAGEN (IPS/Terraviva) Negotiators worked through Tuesday night without a positive outcome on providing financing for poor countries, commitments on emission reductions or a legally-enforceable treaty. Continue Reading

Protesters demanded that developed countries respect Kyoto Protocol commitments and reduce emissions. Credit: Servaas van den Bosch/IPS

By Claudia Ciobanu and Servaas van den Bosch

COPENHAGEN (IPS/Terra Viva) – Fed up with the lack of progress in the climate negotiations, campaigners marched on the Bella Centre. NGOs at the negotiations staged a walkout to connect with civil society outside, but police violently broke up this ‘people’s assembly’ and arrested the ringleaders.

A morning of protest started around 10.30 at the Bella Centre with a sit-in of ninety members of international environmental NGO Friends of the Earth (FOE), who despite having access passes to the conference venue were excluded for security reasons. Continue Reading

“Don’t buy the lie”. Credit: Courtesy of Cindy Snodgrass

by Servaas van den Bosch*

COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) – “Three years of gathering support have come down to three days of negotiating,” says U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, calling on developed nations to quickly set further emissions reduction targets.

“But developing nations should also slow the growth of their emissions,” he urged delegates at the start of the High Level Meeting. “The time for consensus has arrived. No one will get what they want in these negotiations but everyone can get what they need.” Continue Reading

Climate witnesses at first international climate hearing. Credit: Claudia Ciobanu/IPS.

Claudia Ciobanu

COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) – ‘’Those who run the decision-making on climate change are the same who have caused it,’’ said Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the world’s first international climate hearing on Tuesday.

He was pithily identifying the reason why justice has been elusive at the ongoing climate change summit in the Danish capital.

Climate victims from all over the world were practically trying to scream into the ears of the negotiators at the COP15 that everybody’s lives were at stake unless a fair deal was reached. Continue Reading

Hydrologist Arshad H. Abbasi says Siachen glacier is melting at an unprecedented rate. Credit: Arshad Abbasi

By Zofeen Ebrahim

KARACHI (IPS/TerraViva) – For the past several years, water expert Arshad H. Abbasi has been calling attention to the environmental degradation of the Siachen Glacier, one of the Himalayan glaciers and the largest in the world outside of the polar regions.

Situated on the strategic tri-junction of India, China and Pakistan, the glacier is considered a climate regulator and an “ecological source” for South Asia, says Abbasi. Continue Reading

Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed, climate hero. Credit: Raúl Pierri/IPS

By Raúl Pierri

COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) Climate change is becoming an increasingly colossal problem, and civil society, fed up with fruitless negotiations, seems to have found its David: Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed.

Because the crusade against big interests, corporations, indifferent governments and bureaucracy demands great determination, but more importantly in this age dominated by images, it also needs a symbol.

And that symbol is not media sweetheart Barack Obama, whose popularity is rapidly waning. “Earn it” is the phrase that can be read in stickers handed out in Copenhagen, asking the U.S. president whose speeches have raised so much hope to back his words with concrete actions, to earn the Nobel Peace Prize he came to accept days ago in Oslo, just a few kilometres from the COP15. Continue Reading